Carl Hagelin, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the NY Rangers and brings much-needed speed to the Ducks’ offense, registered a goal and two assists Monday after entering the contest with a goal and an assist in his first 17 games with Anaheim.TV: 8 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket, FSN San Diego (Anaheim), FSN Tennessee (Nashville)ABOUT THE DUCKS (6-8-4): Captain Ryan Getzlaf was probably wondering if he would ever score again before clinching Monday’s victory with an empty-netter – is first goal of the season.
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In more “Thank Goodness The Pacific Is Not Good”, Nashville is now in a wild card spot by virtue of just eight of their wins being in regulation having started 10-3-3.
After a 4-0 loss to St. Louis in the opener of a five-game homestand, Nashville has scored seven goals in two victories during a 2-0-1 stretch. “It was a close-checking first period for sure”.
But the Canes tied the score 1-1 in the second when Hanifin, the defenseman made the No. 5 pick of the 2015 National Hockey League draft by Carolina, scored on a rising shot from the left point.
It’s been either feast or starvation for Nashville on their current home stand, having gone 2-1-1 thus far while scoring 14(!) goals in the wins and just one in the defeats.
The answer will have to come on the road for the Ducks, who open this four-game trip with a 5-0-1 record against the Hurricanes since February 8, 2012.
But the Ducks started the second in a malaise as Carolina had the first nine shots of the period. Vatanen took a cross-ice pass from Getzlaf, made a slick move to elude defenseman Ron Hainsey and snapped the puck past Lack to make it 2-1. But the speedy winger assisted on the first two goals, then beat Lack with a wraparound in the third for a 3-1 lead.
Horcoff got a chance to do the same near the midpoint of the period, but Lack robbed him with a glove save on the shot redirect attempt.
“I just gotta keep workin’ hard and it’s gonna turn around eventually”.
It was another game of lost offensive opportunities as Carolina finished 0-for-3 on the power play.
“You know what…probably don’t have enough shots”, Peters said in response to the question of what wasn’t translating for his team with the man-advantage.
“Once you shoot, you’re able to get motion; once you have motion on retrievals, you’re able to break teams down”.
“We really could have got a hell of a lot more than we actually did get”, Horcoff said.
“We need to score more goals”, Hanifin added.
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“Their identity kind of came through in Anaheim and they were playing more physical, more of a team game and it was everything we could handle”.
